TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Director’s Report .................... 1 Headquarters Construction .................... 2 NCKRI Projects .................................... 4 Anthropogenic Sinkholes ................................ 4 Fort Stanton Cave .......................................... 5 Carbonate Pool Precipitates ............................ 7 Naica Mine Cave .......................................... 8 Met Pro Corporation ...................................... 8 Desert Varnish ............................................... 8 Imagery Data Extraction ................................. 8 Karst Information Portal .................................. 9 Hypogene Karst ............................................ 10 Hypogene Karst Studies in Texas ..................... 10 NASA Spaceward Bound Teacher Training ....... 11 Student Activities ................................. 12 Student Projects ..................................... 12 Student Awards ............................................. 13 Student Presentations ...................................... 13 Student Publications ....................................... 13 Outreach ............................................ 14 Board Activities ................................... 15 Board of Directors ................................ 16 NCKRI Staff ........................................ 18 Staff Publications ................................. 20 Organizational Structure ....................... 22 2008-2009 Budget .............................. 23 Strategic Plans .................................... 24 Cover Photo Manjang Cave, Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. This 13.4-km-long lava tube is the longest in Korea and part of the Jeju Island World Heritage Site. NCKRI is studying volcanic caves around the world as likely analogs for extraterrestrial caves and poten- tial sites of microbial life. Inside Cover Photo “Bacon” is one of many varieties of mineral deposits that occur in caves. This beautiful example is from Cave Without A Name, a show cave in Texas. In addition to their aesthetic qualities, these deposits often hold key information useful to interpreting the origin of a cave or the paleoclimatic and environmental conditions of a region. NCKRI conducts and supports careful scientific research of cave minerals. Back Cover Photo One of many entrances into the Candalaria Cave System in Guatemala. Like many caves in the Maya area, this cave contains important archeological materials. NCKRI sees cave archeology is an important but poorly supported field of study, and plans to develop programs to bolster such research in the US and abroad. Photos by George Veni. 2009 ANNUAL REPORT NATIONAL CAVE AND KARST RESEARCH INSTITUTE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT July 2008 through June 2009 will prove to be a pivotal year in the his- tory of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI). Congress created NCKRI to conduct, support, facilitate, and promote programs in cave and karst research, education, environmental management, and data acquisi- tion and sharing. NCKRI’s efforts in these areas were limited due to three main issues, all of which were resolved or alleviated this year: headquarters construction, funding, and staff. This annual report covers NCKRI’s diverse array of projects and activities during the last 12 months, but below are de- tails on these three items and a look toward the future. Headquarters Construction: Groundbreaking for the construction for NCKRI Headquarters officially occurred on November 24, 2008. To fully meet its congressional mandates, NCKRI needs a specially designed build- ing to conduct its programs. The 17,315 ft2 building will contain a bookstore, museum/exhibit hall, classrooms, laboratory, library, offices, and meeting space. NCKRI Headquarters will also be highly energy efficient and have innovative design features, some of which will serve nationally as models for green building techniques that can be used in karst areas to prevent or minimize adverse environmental impacts. Funding: The legislation creating NCKRI in 1998 contained one well- intentioned clause, that all federal funds must be matched by non-federal funds, but it caused unforeseen problems. Throughout NCKRI’s history, federal agencies and federally-funded organizations have had the greatest interest in working with NCKRI, but non-federal matches either didn’t exist or could not be located in the available time. On March 30, 2009, President Barack Obama signed a bill that removed the matching funds requirement. The bill was written and sponsored by New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman. NCKRI is now able to compete fairly for construction, research, education, and other federal funds on a level playing field with other organizations. Staff: NCKRI currently has few employees and any addition is impor- tant, but few will be as vital as the Education Director who was hired nearly at the end of this reporting year on June 22, 2009. Education is much more than teaching kids from grades K-12. Dianne Gillespie will develop a com- prehensive outreach program that nationally and later internationally will encompass all ages and demographics through NCKRI’s website, museum, bookstore, and a traveling series of lectures, workshops, and meetings. She will begin her tenure with a nationwide tour of cave, karst, science, and envi- ronmental science museums, research institutes, and university programs to develop ideas from which to build NCKRI’s education program and museum while establishing partnerships to enhance cave and karst education in the US and abroad. Clearly, NCKRI has a lot of work ahead to meet its ambitious goals. This year’s accomplishments were important steps toward meeting them. However, the key to NCKRI’s success lies with the continued and unflag- ging support of its many friends and partners. I thank them all. George Veni, Ph.D. NATIONAL CAVE AND KARST RESEARCH INSTITUTE 2009 ANNUAL REPORT 1 NCKRI HEADQUARTERS CONSTRUCTION On Monday, November 24, 2008, NCKRI broke ground for its head- quarters building in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Several state and local offi- cials and over 90 other guests at- tended from throughout the region. The building’s exterior and part of the interior will be complete by No- vember 2009. Construction was started to prevent inflation of most of the building’s costs while NCKRI and its partners seek funds to complete the remaining portions of the interior. L to R: Hazel Medville, NCKRI Board President; Dr. Daniel Lopez, New Mexico Tech President; New Mexico State Representative John Heaton; Carlsbad Mayor Bob Forrest; Carol McCoy, National Park Service Representative to NCKRI Board; Lynn Ditto, Representative for US. Senator Jeff Bingaman; Dr. George Veni, NCKRI Executive Director. 2 2009 ANNUAL REPORT NATIONAL CAVE AND KARST RESEARCH INSTITUTE NATIONAL CAVE AND KARST RESEARCH INSTITUTE 2009 ANNUAL REPORT 3 NCKRI PROJECTS Anthropogenic Sinkholes in the Delaware Basin Region of West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico Sinkholes within gypsum bed- rock in the Delaware Basin of west Texas and southeastern New Mexico are seldom of human origin, but those few are highly significant. These an- thropogenic sinkholes are often asso- ciated with improperly cased aban- doned oil wells or solution mining of salt beds below the gypsum. On July 16th, 2008 a sinkhole formed abruptly at the site of a brine well in Eddy County, New Mexico, about 17 km southwest of the small community of Loco Hills (see photo to the right). The well operator was injecting fresh water into salt beds of the Per- mian Salado Formation and pumping out the resulting brine for use as oil Photo by George Veni field drilling fluid. Borehole problems Jim’s Water Service Well Sinkhole on July 20, 2008, four days after the initial collapse. had prevented the operator from con- ducting required downhole sonar sur- surface void space. The resulting Service Well Sinkhole, formed in just veys to assess the dimensions of sub- sinkhole, referred to as Jim’s Water a few hours by catastrophic collapse of overlying mudstone and gypsum, and in less than one month reached a diameter of 111 m and a depth of ~64 m (see photo to the left). Luckily, a seismograph had been deployed 13.9 km southeast of the brine well a few months earlier, and collapse in the subsurface was captured on the seis- mograph record a few hours before the cavity breached the surface (see top of next page). This may be the first documented seismologic record of catastrophic sinkhole formation. On November 3, 2008, a new sinkhole, Loco Hills Sinkhole , formed within the city limits of Loco Hills, ~17 km northeast of Jim’s Wa- ter Service Well Sinkhole. Loco Hills Sinkhole was also associated with a brine well that was shut in three months earlier after it failed a me- chanical integrity test, part of a state- wide review ordered by the New Photo by Lewis Land Mexico Oil Conservation Division Jim’s Water Service Sinkhole, July 28, 2008, after sides began to slump and water (NMOCD) of regulations covering all drained back into the subsurface. 4 2009 ANNUAL REPORT NATIONAL CAVE AND KARST RESEARCH INSTITUTE Seismograph TA126-A 3-day record of vertical ground velocity, located 13.9 km southeast of Jim’s Water Well Service Sinkhole, shows more than 6 hours of ground motion from subsurface collapse of the brine well cavity. Time of surface breaching (8:15am) is indicated by the vertical red line. brine wells across the state after the described as perhaps the longest cave part of the team as mineralogist and first sinkhole collapsed. deposit on